July 23, 2024 at 6:24 am · Shelly Clark · Comments Off on The Right Equation for Responsible Development: Spotlight on Maine Savings Amphitheater (Bangor)

The Right Equation for Responsible Development: Spotlight on Maine Savings Amphitheater (Bangor)

Each year, the Maine Real Estate & Development Association (MEREDA) recognizes some of the state’s most “noteworthy and significant” real estate projects, completed in the previous year. The exemplary projects from across the state, completed in 2023, not only embody MEREDA’s belief in responsible real estate development, but also exemplify best practices in the industry, contributing to Maine’s economic growth by significant investment of resources and job creation statewide.

This year, MEREDA honored projects from Portland to Gardiner to Presque Isle, with each receiving special recognition at MEREDA’s 2024 Spring Conference on May 15th.

In a multi-part series exclusive to the Maine Real Estate Insider, we’ll provide an up-close look at the most notable commercial development projects of the past year that are helping to fuel Maine’s economy in terms of investment and job creation. MEREDA is proud to recognize responsible development based upon criteria including environmental sustainability, economic impact, energy efficiency, difficulty of the development, uniqueness, social impact and job creation.

MEREDA’s 2023 Top 7 recipients include:

University of Southern Maine Portland Commons Residence Hall and McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success, Capstone Development Partners (Portland)
Maine Savings Amphitheater, Waterfront Concerts, LLC (Bangor)
Phoenix Flats, Community Housing of Maine (Portland)
Homeless Services Center, Developers Collaborative (Portland)
Northeastland Hotel, Haley Ward, Inc. (Presque Isle)
Johnson Hall Opera House, Johnson Hall Redevelopment, LLC (Gardiner)
The Armature at Hanover Works, Reveler Development (Portland)

Please join us this week in celebrating Maine Savings Amphitheater.

MEREDA: Describe the building and project.

Waterfront Concerts completed their vision of a best-in-class Amphitheater making it the largest and most modern music venue North of Boston. With its completion, Bangor, Maine, in the summer, has solidified its position in the Northeast as a premier concert destination for years to come. Additions include, ten suites, five premium clubs, ADA improvements, improved concessions, terraced seating and two hundred and fifty-two new bathrooms. Their team worked to upgrade every surface, every seat, every touch point for their consumers. They were incredibly careful to use Maine made products and contractors in every aspect of the build where they could to maximize the impact of the build locally.

MEREDA: What was the impetus for this project?

Our teams desire to have world class entertainment and economic development in the Bangor region where most of us grew up.

MEREDA: That sounds like quite a process. How long were you in the planning stages before construction started?

Visioning sessions began with staff from Waterfront Concerts and Ervin Architecture in the winter of 2018.

MEREDA: Tell us about the most challenging aspect of getting this project completed.

Covid. We started the project at the completion of the 2019 season. We paused this project in July of 2020 to protect our staff’s jobs. We resumed construction when mass gatherings were allowed in 2021 in an effort to hold four concerts in 2021. We resumed full time construction in the fall of 2021 and worked every day that there wasn’t a concert and during a few concerts if the artist allowed it until completion in May of 2023 when the space was substantially complete.

MEREDA: Something unexpected you learned along the way was….

We all know the term “supply chain”. Managing this is difficult in construction. The pandemic made it much more difficult.

MEREDA: Now that it’s complete, what feature of the project do you think makes it the most notable?

Fans alike love the improved surfaces and overall improvement of the concert experience, especially viewing from each seat. The ladies love the 252 working bathrooms (66% are ladies rooms) and the attendants that staff them.

July 16, 2024 at 6:00 am · Shelly Clark · Comments Off on MEREDA Releases The MEREDA Index Report for 2023

MEREDA Releases The MEREDA Index Report for 2023

MEREDA has released its 18th edition of the MEREDA Index. As a key economic indicator for Maine, the MEREDA Index measures the pulse of the state’s real estate industry and is the leading way our industry tracks changes in Maine’s real estate markets.

A measure of real estate activity designed to track changes in Maine’s real estate markets, the Index is a composite of nine seasonally adjusted measures reflecting both new development and transactions involving existing properties and it covers both the commercial and residential markets statewide. This most recent edition covers the year 2023. The MEREDA Index was tabulated by economist Dr. Charles Colgan and comes in at 114.1.

This latest edition of the MEREDA Index showed a decline of 1.5% between 2022 and 2023. The driver of the decline was the residential index, which declined 11.3% as interest rate increases being driven to offset inflation began to seriously bite into real estate markets. The commercial and construction components of the index both increased, by 23.5% in the former case and 2.3% in the latter case. These increases were not sufficient to offset the drops in residential activity.

To download a copy of the full report, please click here.

July 9, 2024 at 6:00 am · Shelly Clark · Comments Off on Listen Up! The July 2024 Episode of the “MEREDA Matters” Podcast is Now Available!

Listen Up! The July 2024 Episode of the “MEREDA Matters” Podcast is Now Available!

A Conversation with Mandy Reynolds and Sean Ireland from The Grant

From The Grant, Sean Ireland, a Principal at Windward Development, and Mandy Reynolds, a real estate development consultant, sit down with MEREDA President Shannon Richards for the first episode in Season 2 of MEREDA Matters – the podcast that puts you in the room with the people who are driving responsible development in Maine.

Ireland, who grew up in Phippsburg and Cumberland, talks about why he chose to work in Bath, the historic transformation happening there, and how his work focuses on small projects that can make a big difference. Reynolds, who grew up in Berwick, had never been to Bath until she started working with Ireland on development projects.

The pair go on to discuss their work on the Grant Building project, which began during the pandemic when the community needed a safe space to gather with high-speed internet capabilities and has become a mixed-use building with their co-working space Union + Co, four residential units, and three additional commercial spaces. Ireland and Reynolds share how this project represents a culmination of their principles for good development and give insight into how they made the project come together through a historic tax credit and the grit to self-perform the majority of the work.

The group also discusses Ireland and Reynolds’s next project, a redevelopment of the Stinson Seafood Cannery into the first purpose-built electric marina in the nation. Looking for inspiration for the future, the pair is taking a year-long working sabbatical to travel around the world to learn more about innovative community development projects and the Blue Economy.

What has had the biggest influence on Sean and Mandy? Listen to the episode to find out!  https://mereda-matters.simplecast.com/

Catch up on past episodes while you’re there!

The MEREDA Matters podcast is sponsored by Bangor Savings Bank and Clark Insurance, A Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC Company. A new episode will be released each month and each will feature new voices from the real estate and development industry.

June 25, 2024 at 6:00 am · Shelly Clark · Comments Off on The Right Equation for Responsible Development: Spotlight on University of Southern Maine Portland Commons Residence Hall and McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success (Portland)

The Right Equation for Responsible Development: Spotlight on University of Southern Maine Portland Commons Residence Hall and McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success (Portland)

Each year, the Maine Real Estate & Development Association (MEREDA) recognizes some of the state’s most “noteworthy and significant” real estate projects, completed in the previous year. The exemplary projects from across the state, completed in 2023, not only embody MEREDA’s belief in responsible real estate development, but also exemplify best practices in the industry, contributing to Maine’s economic growth by significant investment of resources and job creation statewide.

This year, MEREDA honored projects from Portland to Gardiner to Presque Isle, with each receiving special recognition at MEREDA’s 2024 Spring Conference on May 15th.

In a multi-part series exclusive to the Maine Real Estate Insider, we’ll provide an up-close look at the most notable commercial development projects of the past year that are helping to fuel Maine’s economy in terms of investment and job creation. MEREDA is proud to recognize responsible development based upon criteria including environmental sustainability, economic impact, energy efficiency, difficulty of the development, uniqueness, social impact and job creation.

MEREDA’s 2023 Top 7 recipients include:

University of Southern Maine Portland Commons Residence Hall and McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success, Capstone Development Partners (Portland)

Maine Savings Amphitheater, Waterfront Concerts, LLC (Bangor)

Phoenix Flats, Community Housing of Maine (Portland)

Homeless Services Center, Developers Collaborative (Portland)

Northeastland Hotel, Haley Ward, Inc. (Presque Isle)

Johnson Hall Opera House, Johnson Hall Redevelopment, LLC (Gardiner)

The Armature at Hanover Works, Reveler Development (Portland)

Please join us this week in celebrating USM Portland Commons Residence Hall and McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success.

MEREDA:  Describe the building and project.

This massive transformation of University of Southern Maine’s (USM) Portland campus included two connected facilities – the 218,000-square-foot, eight-story Portland Commons student residence and the 42,000-square-foot, five-story McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success – both centered on a one-acre green quad.

The Portland Commons Residence Hall is home to undergraduates in their second, third, or fourth year; graduate students; law students; and residential staff with a mix of single-occupancy rooms, studio apartments, and larger apartments with multiple bedrooms and bathrooms. Amenities include a courtyard, a variety of study and meeting rooms, interior gathering spaces, and indoor bike storage.

The building has four wings, two reaching five stories in height and two reaching eight stories in height — forming a parallelogram that encloses the semi-private residential courtyard and maximizes access to natural daylight and views for living units.

This first-ever, on-campus, Portland-based residence hall for USM will provide affordable housing in a market where inventory is low and expensive, reduce competition for scarce housing with Portland residents, and alleviate overcrowding in the Gorham Campus residence halls.

The McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success is a welcoming center of student life. The large scale of the building begins with the soaring south-facing Bath Savings Portico comprised of diagonal cross-laminated timber (CLT) columns to create a signature visual expression across the front façade. A broad gesture roughly 30 feet tall, 20 feet deep, and 200 feet long, the portico forms a “front porch” and covers a two-story mass timber-framed lobby. Enclosed entirely in a transparent curtain wall, this dramatic lobby is anchored by a monumental stone fireplace and soaring open stairs.

On the ground floor, the lobby is adjacent to a large dining common with a 254-seat capacity. The Double L Fireside Student Lounge, the University Store, and the Husky Brew provide more spaces to connect and study. The second floor is devoted entirely to career services, featuring the new home of the Career & Employment Hub with an office suite; a 4,500-square-foot multi-purpose room; private meeting rooms; and the Prentice Board Room. The top floor is devoted to Student Affairs, featuring the Student Diversity Center, with offices and various student lounge spaces.

These new campus facilities represent the pinnacle of sustainability and embraced renewable low-carbon building technologies, waste diversion, and strategies to maintain healthy living and working spaces. Portland Commons is the second largest Passive House residence hall in the United States and is projected to use 50% less energy than a standard modern building. The McGoldrick Center, with its large-scale 33.3-kW rooftop photovoltaic array and passive solar heating through a large south-facing glass façade, is pursuing LEED Gold certification. The building also incorporates corrugated metal and wood cladding materials, which are low carbon in their manufacture and shipping and can be recycled at the end of their long lifecycle. The facility is comprised of one-third mass timber and two-thirds structural steel framing, with low-carbon mass timber CLT and laminated lumber supports throughout as replacement for more carbon-intensive steel and concrete. Both buildings incorporate technologies such as energy-efficient lighting, water-efficient fixtures and daylight harvesting to further minimize impact.

MEREDA:  What was the impetus for this project? 

A 2019 Facilities Master Plan outlined a series of important planning and building initiatives to better prepare the University to attract and retain highly qualified students and faculty, transforming the local and state economies through scholarship, civic and cultural engagement, and innovation. The addition of new residential beds and a student center focused on career counseling and graduate success – both framing a new central quad – were the cornerstones of that master plan.

Fulfilling the aspirations of that master plan, the Portland Commons Residence Hall, McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success, and L.L.Bean Green give the University a new campus heart that offers on-campus housing, dining amenities, and social and academic support spaces for all students. Surface parking that once occupied the site was relocated to a new garage, allowing the residence hall and student center to frame a large open lawn that has become the signature open space on the campus. With a design equally informed by all three pillars of sustainability, the new buildings and landscape enhance social equity with access and support for all; economic prosperity by providing compact, energy-efficient housing with a cost-effective price; and environmental stewardship by greatly reducing energy consumption through Passive House design, mass timber construction, and a renewable energy solar array on top of the McGoldrick Center.

MEREDA:  That sounds like quite a process. How long were you in the planning stages before construction started?

PC Construction proposed with Capstone Development Partners on the project in July 2019 and were awarded the project in November 2019. The design-build planning process started in earnest in late December 2019. The original goal was to start construction in late summer 2020 but the pandemic impacted the preconstruction and design process and moved the construction start to March 2021. The planning process to delivery of the GMP was approximately 14 months.

MEREDA:  Tell us about the most challenging aspect of getting this project completed.

Portland Commons and McGoldrick Center, plus a multi-level parking garage, were under construction by PC simultaneously on USM’s campus. Combined with the several other construction projects also underway in Portland, the availability of skilled tradespeople was a major challenge. To keep the USM projects on schedule, PC offset the work sequences for subcontractors to coordinate the needs of all three buildings without depleting each other’s resources.

Another challenge involved the relocation of the campus’s main steam line. The existing conditions differed from the as-builts, which required a redesign of the connections at either end of the steam line and the installation of a new condensate line. This unexpected work had to be completed before October 1 so that the campus heating system could be turned on for the winter season.

Lastly, the delivery of the prefabricated metal panels that formed the superstructure of Portland Commons became a supply chain issue, potentially putting the entire project schedule at risk. Electrical rough-in could not begin until the building was weather-tight, and since this delay would set back roof installation, the team made a major pivot to erect one wing at a time, rather than one floor of two wings at a time.

MEREDA:  Something unexpected you learned along the way was….

Achieving Passive House certification could have been a lot more challenging than it turned out to be. Outstanding project teaming partners made certification possible.

MEREDA:  Now that it’s complete, what feature of the project do you think makes it the most notable?

The expansive mass timber of the McGoldrick Center is impressive. Even though Maine is so well known for its extensive forestry industry, the trees in this area typically do not meet the structural requirements of mass timber. With one-third of the building comprised of mass timber, the building brings an exciting visual appeal while providing sustainable benefits. With Portland Commons, designing and constructing the second largest Passive House building at a university in the United States and a top-10 largest Passive House building anywhere in the country was incredibly exciting. This entire team will look back at the USM campus with pride for a long time to come.

June 4, 2024 at 6:00 am · Shelly Clark · Comments Off on Listen Up! The June 2024 Episode of the “MEREDA Matters” Podcast is Now Available!

Listen Up! The June 2024 Episode of the “MEREDA Matters” Podcast is Now Available!

A Conversation with Shannon Richards, Incoming President of MEREDA

Incoming President of MEREDA Shannon Richards sits with current MEREDA President Craig Young and immediate past President Josh Fifield for the eighteenth episode of MEREDA Matters – the podcast that puts you in the room with the people who are driving responsible development in Maine.

Richards, who is the Founder of the design-build firm Hay Runner, shares the origin of her company, including the inspiration for its name. She goes on to talk about what it was like growing up in Castine, Maine and Jamestown, Rhode Island and why she feels that all of Maine is like an island community. Richards also discusses the importance of art in her life, how she does something creative everyday, and why she decided to build an art school with her partner, architect Caleb Johnson. The conversation also includes a discussion on Richards’s approach to running a successful business, which for her is about coming up with a plan and then showing up every single day.

The group goes on to reflect on their experiences working together on MEREDA events and what Richards’s goals are for the next two years as President.

Where is Shannon’s favorite place to vacation in Maine? Listen to the episode to find out!  https://mereda-matters.simplecast.com/

Catch up on past episodes while you’re there!

The MEREDA Matters podcast is sponsored by NBT Bank and Landry French Construction. Additional sponsors include Bangor Savings Bank, Clark Insurance, A Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC Company, and The Boulos Company. A new episode will be released each month and each will feature new voices from the real estate and development industry.